School closing plan dominates Newark board election

Amanda Brown/For the Star-LedgerNewark Schools Superintendent Cami Anderson speaks about the closing of seven schools in February. Anderson's plan has sparked controversy and has become the biggest issue in the Newark school board elections.

And though Newark’s school advisory board has had virtually no authority since 1995, the trope still rings true in the annual race to fill three seats on the nine-member board.

While the board is advisory, it reflects Newark’s political leanings and can drastically affect how reform efforts undertaken by Superintendent Cami Anderson are received in the city.

Ten candidates are seeking the three seats in the April 17 election, and two slates of three are the biggest contenders. The Children First team, backed by South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka and several other council members, includes incumbent Marques Lewis, DeNiqua Matias and Ariagna Perello.

When power broker Steve Adubato Sr. announced in January that he would not field a slate for the first time in decades, board incumbent Shavar Jeffries put a team together to oppose Children First. Masiel Valentin, Rashied McCreary and Tara Williams compose the Education Matters team, which has the backing of Mayor Cory Booker.

More than 70 percent of students at the six facilities read below grade level. The district says the buildings are deteriorating and are underenrolled by at least 25 percent.

Along with the renew schools, Anderson plans to expand magnet schools, provide incentives for more charter school accountability and augment early childhood education.

Teachers at the closing facilities will be asked to reapply for their jobs.

At a candidate forum hosted by the Newark Education Trust last week, all of the candidates critiqued Anderson’s plan. Children First objected to the substance, while Education Matters criticized the rollout.

"A number of the schools that were slated to be closed were undergoing improvement strategies," said Matias, a parent and the assistant director of Clinton Hill Community & Early Childhood Center. "They have not been given sufficient time to be successful."

Williams, a single mother and longtime human resources manager, said the plan had merit but failed to engage parents, residents and students.

"You have to take into account the community and the people that are going to be affected," she said. "That, unfortunately, that did not happen."

Brito, a former Barringer High School teacher running an independent campaign, also chided Anderson.

"She made a decision without including all the stakeholders, and I’m definitely against that," he said.

The tenets of Anderson’s plan were based on a strategic overhaul proposed by her predecessor, Clifford Janey, which had widespread community input. Her opponents say that’s not good enough.

"It doesn’t abdicate her from allowing the community to know what’s going on, because it’s her plan now," said Baraka, the principal of Central High School.

Anderson announced the plan to the jeers and chants of a packed house at Rutgers-Newark in January. She presented a revised proposal earlier this month after close to 100 meetings with parents, community groups, teachers and students.

Everyone agrees community buy-in is crucial to lasting reform, but with the state still the ultimate authority, the elected board has little recourse to block Anderson’s reform efforts.

As the city schools vie for self-determination, the qualifications of board members have also become a central issue in the race. No one on the Children First team has a college degree. The Education Matters team has six post-secondary degrees.

"We have to make sure that when we elect leadership, we elect leadership with the experience and qualifications needed to manage the whole district," Jeffries said. "The way in which the board obtains local control is all about the capacity of the board to manage the district."

Lewis, who said he is pursuing a seminary degree, argues knowledge of Newark’s streets and problems is as important as a degree.

"If you have a degree but you’re not committed to community service, then what’s your degree?" Lewis said. A former gang-member, Lewis, 24, left street life and became the youngest board member ever elected in Newark. "I didn’t want to go to school, but people motivated me and some of those people didn’t have college degrees — they had prison degrees."

Valentin, a mother of two and PTA president at Roberto Clemente Elementary, said if the board is to be taken seriously, it should have professional credentials.

"We need strong voices on that board. We need people that can command the attention of the superintendent, that can sit down, take apart these plans and analyze them," she said.

Hasan, who is also running independently, said local control won’t be returned until the district demonstrates sustainable progress in educating its 40,000 children.

"We lost control of our district in 1995," he said. "However, our school system didn’t just start failing overnight."